Standoff

|18|Prison|

Aaron blinks and struggles against the binds, something grips him tightly but the light is so bright in front of him he can't see who it is.

"Stop wiggling, Dante, help me out." Aaron immediately relaxed, and the light above him dimmed, he saw a blue haired man hover over him and his bonds loosen.

He looks over at his cell-mates to realize it's bits and pieces of his old gang, the two youngest members, Dante, and Laurence.

"Guys? What are you doing here?" He asks his voice dry from lack of water.

"We could ask you the same thing, Mason got us too." Laurence did not look good, his once light brown hair was almost a dark brown from dirt. His shirt is ripped in places and burn marks dotting his body, but his eyes were just a blue as ever.

Dante didn't look much better, his shirt wasn't ripped but a black and purple eye graced his face and he held himself like a beaten puppy. His blue hair was dirty and his equally blue eyes looked almost dead.

"Why?! Why is he doing this?!" Aaron tried to stand but his head is pounding out of his skull, and he holds his tender head in his hands.

"He don't like change. Once you retired we all followed suit, he was the only one that continued to rob and swindle people." Dante spoke up, he sounded like he was in pain, and his voice barely a whisper.

"We all settled down, Garroth and I found and old cabin. And used what money we had to fix it up. Mason didn't like that." Laurence said, his fist balling up.

"He visited us and kidnapped me, probably made Garroth work for him to keep me alive from what I heard." Aaron had that horrible feeling of his stomach turning again, he really didn't wanna hear this.

"I... fell in love with a lady. Tried settling down with her, and he killed her, and threw me in this cell." Dante added simply, looking away at the memory a second later.

"And you? Why'd he throw you in here?" Laurence asks, and Aaron suddenly felt self conscious of his story. But he took a deep breath and sighed.

"He asked me to rob this train with him, I refused, and got caught out in a sandstorm riding away from town." Laurence snickered as Aaron knew he would.

"A rock got lodged in my side, and then I met a woman with two sons." He started to smile remembering this and Laurence started to smirk.

"She was short, but if she couldn't throw a good punch. She had long raven hair and caramel eyes. She is sweet." He started to change tense, she isn't dead, not yet at least.

"I traveled with her and her sons for awhile, until we came upon a little ransacked town. When we spilt up. Her son, Levin was shot and killed." Dante looks up and Laurence shook his head.

"I promised her and the remaining son that I would find the guy and kill him. Then Mason gave me a lead in this train, it was a trap, once he got the money, he betrayed me and threw me in here." Aaron is on the verge of tears now, Laurence yelled and slammed his fists into the wall.

"I am done sitting in this damn cell!" Laurence turns and lifts Dante up and then extends his hand to Aaron, who takes it.

"We all have a bone to pick with him, we all had something taken away from us. Next meal..." Laurence speaks of a great escape plan that is so ludicrous that there was no way it would work.

And that's why they do it.

"Hey!" A random guy comes into the cell and tries to shove them around. Aaron, still angry, and a little startled, lunges at him, but gets kicked in the stomach.

"Stay down you pedazo de inmundicia!" He feels himself being kicked and beaten before he's dragged out, Laurence shouting out at him to 'don't do what they say!'

When they release him he's in a dimly lit room, and two horrible looking men stand before him, he hurt and ached from the beating he'd just experienced, but he suspected it was nothing to what was about to happen.

They slam him into a chair in the middle of the room and strap his arms and legs to it, another man steps in with a hot poker, and Aaron braces himself for what comes next.

The poker hits his skin and he yells in pain, the skin bubbling and hissing. He struggled but it was no use.

Then, it subsided, he knew that this torture wouldn't kill him. But it would make him wish he was dead.

"Now, let's try this. You will tell me where all of your stolen money is, and I won't burn you again." His torture's voice was high and he obviously wouldn't hold that bargain.

"Spent it." This was A blatant lie, he had given most of it away in charity or to buy someone's drink, hardly any of it had he spent himself.

"Liar." The poker hisses on his skin again and he holds back a yell, he was ready this time.

"Where is it?!" A sharp pain sticks into his arm as a knife had been thrown there, he grunts but still refuses to show pain.

"I don't know. I gave most of it to charity." The torture then stops. Looks him straight in the eye, and burns him again.

He grunts, starting to see spots.

"Why would a bandito give money to charity?"

"So no one else would go down the same road as me." Aaron choked out, he had a plan, but one that would likely end in unbelievable pain, another man readies his fist to punch him in the gut.

"No! Fist down!" his torturer scans him up and down. And stares into his eyes, his face falling, before smirking and placing the poker somewhere private, his crotch.

This time he screamed, and thrashed about, kicking up and hitting the torturer, and grabbing something silver with his teeth hiding it under his tongue.

The two other men with him took over, taking him by the neck and strangling him, he wiggles and squirms but his vision fades and ringing invades his ears.

He's dragged like this back into his cell and thrown into the wall, but he's just happy he can breath.

Laurence holds his shoulder and Dante comes up beside him.

"What'd they do? Are you okay?" Aaron nodded, still in pain, he groans and holds the area between his legs.

"They... They wanted to know where I put the stolen money." He could barely choke out before falling to the floor in pain again, everything spotty in his vision.

"Did you tell them?" Laurence asks in a panic, and when Aaron nodded he lost it.

"What?! Why?! There just going to-" Aaron put his hand up, silencing him. And managed to choke out.

"I got his keys." He pulled out an iron key from under his tongue and Laurence laughed, taking it from his hand.

            "You sir, are a great man."